Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet was officially put under house arrest Wednesday after the Supreme Court upheld his indictment on murder and kidnapping charges stemming from abuses during his 1973 to 1990 rule.
The formal arrest, which included a reading of charges and a signature from the accused, was delivered at Pinochet's posh ranch of Los Boldos, west of Santiago on the Pacific coast.
Pinochet, 89, has never stood trial for the disappearance and presumed murder of some 3,000 opponents who vanished during his dictatorship, according to official count.
A magistrate's secretary entered Pinochet's residence with two police and another court secretary who acted as a witness. They left 15 minutes later and did not speak to reporters.
The charges -- one murder and nine kidnappings of people whose bodies were never found -- are related to Operation Condor, a 1970s conspiracy of South American dictatorships to collaborate on eliminating leftist opponents.
Pinochet exhibited "the dignity of a soldier," when he signed the documents around noon Tuesday, according to Gustavo Collao, one of his lawyers.
"Mr. Augusto Pinochet, despite his 89 years and his publicly acknowledged ill health, participated with the dignity, respect and enthusiasm of a soldier and former president of the republic," Collao said.
The once-feared dictator suffered a mild stroke in mid-December and was briefly hospitalized, but was said to be recovering.
Since Thursday, he has been staying at his ranch in the pastoral town of Bucalemu, some 110km west of Santiago.
According to Juan Guzman Tapia, the judge handling the case, Pinochet authorized Operation Condor in November 1975 following a meeting of secret services from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay in Santiago.
Pinochet has been through this before: in 2001 the same judge put him under house arrest, also at Los Boldos, on charges relating to the "Caravan of Death," some 75 summary executions carried out after the 1973 coup.
Pinochet spent six weeks under house arrest before he was granted limited freedom under court supervision. The charges were dropped in July 2002 when the Supreme Court found that Pinochet suffered from mild dementia and was unable to stand trial.
However, the prosecution successfully argued that the former dictator has since given clear signs of being lucid: in November 2003 Pinochet showed no hint of dementia when interviewed by a Miami television station, and in August last year he gave detailed answers to another judge investigating his secret account at Riggs Bank in Washington that held up to US$15 million.
Pinochet's lawyers are now urging that the trial be halted on health grounds. The decision will be made by the Santiago Appeals Court, which will have to assess whether Pinochet is fit to stand trial.
That decision can be expected to be appealed to the Chilean Supreme Court, which would make the final ruling on Pinochet's legal fate in this case.
In statements Wednesday, the heads of Chile's army and navy were clearly uneasy with Pinochet's predicament.
The head of Chile's army, General Juan Emilio Cheyre, wondered whether Pinochet should be brought to trial due to his weak health, referring to medical reports ordered by Judge Juan Guzman Tapia.
And the head of Chile's navy, Admiral Miguel Angel Vergara, said he believes "the whole country feels some concern that a former president of the republic is in this situation."
In November, after an official report exposed cases of torture practiced during the regime, Chile's joint chiefs of the army, navy, police and air force admitted to their dictatorship-era excesses.
Previously, the armed forces had explained away human rights violations as the acts of wayward individuals.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS